Story Killers: Dead Ends and Detours

Dead ends and detours are horribly frustrating things on a road trip. But they’re even more destructive on radio shows. On the air, both are equally dangerous on the air.

When traveling, two unforeseen things occur:

A detour is annoying because it routes you in an unplanned and unintended direction. And the longer the detour, the further out of the way it gets.

It’s annoying at first, but some detours turn out to be okay. Some even enjoyable. They take you places you would otherwise miss. In fact, some detours can become the highlight of your trip. But most of them result in listener confusion, and that’s a main cause of tune out.

Another unexpected event is coming to a dead end. A road block. Dead ends are never a good thing. The only solution is to turn around and go back because it’s impossible to move forward.

The same things happen on the air. Dead ends and detours destroy momentum, annoy listeners and turn otherwise terrific breaks into a horrible listening experience.